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UST COL Chapter 3

3 To return to what I said before, it is as if God brought you back to life because he included you when he brought the Messiah back to life. Because of this, I want you to stay focused on what is in heaven, since the Messiah is there. He sits next to God the Father on the throne and rules everything. 2 I want you to desire what God has ready for you in heaven, not what you could have here on earth. 3 You should think this way because it is as if you have died. You are spiritually alive only because God has united you to the Messiah in close relationship with himself, and this cannot be seen on earth right now. 4 You are alive because God has united you to the Messiah. Therefore, when he returns again to earth and everyone sees him, at that time you will be with him. Then, everyone will see that you too have become glorious beings like him.

5 Because this is your destiny, think of the desires you have to do evil things in this world as enemies that you must kill. The evil things that you might desire include having improper sex, doing impure things, enjoying wrong emotions, desiring evil things, and wanting more than you need, which is the same as worshiping another god. 6 Because people have these desires, God is angry with them and will punish them. 7 You, just like them, used to have these desires to do evil things. That was when you acted out these desires. 8 But now that you have believed, you must stop behaving in all evil ways. These evil ways include acting in angry ways, being angry with others, desiring to hurt others, talking bad about others, and speaking shameful words. 9 You must not tell lies to one another. You are not the person you used to be, a person who normally behaved in these evil ways. 10 You are a new person now, a person in whom God is working to make you know him more. You are now a person who is like God, who turned you into this new person. 11 Since you are all new people, it is not important whether anyone is a non-Jew or a Jew, or whether anyone is circumcised or not, or whether anyone is a foreigner or an uncivilized person, or whether anyone is a slave or not. Instead, it is the Messiah who is most important, and God has united him to all of you.

12 God has chosen you, he has set you apart as his own people, and he loves you. Because of these things and because you are new people, you must always behave properly towards others. This includes caring about them, being kind to them, not being proud, not behaving harshly, and taking a long time to become angry. 13 You must not easily become irritated with one another. When you blame other people for the things they have done, you must forgive them. You should imitate how the Lord forgave you by forgiving one another. 14 Finally, what is more important than everything I have said so far is that you love one another. By doing this you will unite yourselves together, just as God has called you to do.

15 You must make the peace which the Messiah has given you a primary factor when you choose what to do. You must do this because God has chosen you to have peace as he unites you closely together, as closely as if you were one person’s body. Also, you must give thanks to God. 16 You must focus completely on the message about the Messiah as you think and act. You must teach and instruct one another very wisely using songs from the Scriptures, songs about Jesus, and songs that the Holy Spirit has given to you. You must thankfully and sincerely sing to God.

17 Whenever you say or do anything, you should behave in every situation as people who represent the Lord Jesus. Also, you should thank God, who is our Father. You can do this only because of the work of the Messiah.

18 Wives must treat their husbands as the leaders in their families, since this is appropriate behavior for those whom God has united to the Lord. 19 Husbands must love their wives and not treat them harshly.

20 Children must obey their parents in every circumstance. This pleases God and is appropriate for those whom God has united to the Lord. 21 Fathers must not make their children angry. Otherwise, the children may feel like giving up.

22 Slaves must obey those who are their masters in this world in every circumstance. They should obey not just when their masters are watching, which is how those who want to please only humans behave. Instead, they should obey their masters sincerely because they treat the Lord with reverence. 23 You must do whatever work you have to do diligently, as if you were working for the Lord instead of for merely human masters. 24 You must obey and serve in this way because you know that the Lord will justly repay you by giving you what he has kept for you. Remember that the Lord Messiah is the real master for whom you are working. 25 You must remember who the real master is because God will punish anyone who does wrong in proportion to those wrong actions. This is because God does not judge people based on how they look or who they are but on what they have done.

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